Irish & other versions: 7J. I Know My Love

Irish & other versions: 7J. I Know My Love

[There are few extant traditional versions of this Irish song which is different but related than to the Died For Love songs. The two extant collected versions were collected in the early 1900s by Helen Laird and published in the first two volumes of Irish Folk Song Society, London, by Irish Folk Song Society in 1904 and 1905. The second version by Bonat Nono of Limerick is longer and has 4 stanzas with a chorus.

The stanza in common with Died For Love is found in the "Brisk Young Sailor" and "There is an Alehouse" variants of "Died for Love" which is Roud 60:

There is a dancehouse in Mar-(a)-dyke,
And 'tis there my dear love goes every night;
And he takes a strange one all on his knee,
And don't you think but it troubles me?

Nono's text was widely reprinted as early as 1909 and was included in concert programs. It's clear his version entered tradition and his text has been used by a variety of Irish groups from the 1960s on.

R. Matteson 2017]